The incident has caused concern among the Pakistani and Muslim community.

If you ask some members of the nursing staff at the hospital where the Pakistani migrant was treated in February and March for his wounds, they will tell you that they have never seen such a case of brutal violence in their careers.

The attackers used a knife, ax and a pointed object to attack the victim. Removal of the stitches alone took four hours, according to the nurses.

“We are satisfied with the court ruling and it is not common that such a stiff sentence are handed in Finland,” she said. “We are satisfied because justice was served. The fact that it was not a hate crime is a bit confusing.”

Even if the victim and his wife still insist that what happened was a hate crime, the police were quick to deny it. The day after the attack, the police told the wife that it could not be a hate crime because the perpetrators “were intoxicated.”

Later on, the police told the wife that what happened to her husband was not a hate crime because “it wasn’t planned.”

As everyone knows, a hate crime can be committed even if the person is intoxicated or isn’t planned.

Migrant Tales asked the investigating police officer, Detective Chief Inspector Mikko Minkkinen, if he had made such statements to the wife but denied ever saying them.

After the attack, which took place on Friday, it was on Tuesday that the police put out a statement.

Detective Chief Inspector Minkkinen denied on that day to the media that what happened was not a hate crime.

Some believe that the Finnish police may play down racism as a motive in such cases for fear of repercussions from the migrant community. The majority of Pakistanis are Muslims.

The wife of the victim said that her husband is afraid to go out at night. “I don’t allow him to go our alone an he feels uneasy about being out alone even when it starts to get dark,” she added.

Five days before the sentence, the wife of the Pakistani migrant wrote an email* on May 20 about her life after the horrific event on February 23.

Hello

Thank you for the email.

“…[The] police say they haven’t found any racist motive and it’s difficult to prove in court without any evidence. But I still believe that too much violence itself clarifies that it is a hate crime.

Our life has totally changed after this incident. It seems a new start of every thing. My eldest daughter cries every day for her old päiväkoti [nursery] and friends [after they moved from their former home in Vantaa]. It’s not easy to cope with this situation.

My husband is facing flashbacks. He used to go out with his brother but as he has gone back to Pakistan. My husband doesn’t feel comfortable going outdoors alone.

Iltalehtihas published a story about the case hearing but mentioned 20 stabbing wounds but there are no less than 30 wounds on my husband’s body. He is in great pain all the time. What he has faced I pray that nobody will ever suffer. He will visit a psychologist at end of May because he really needs help [to cope with what happened to him]. He is facing difficulty in sleeping.

It’s not understandable why nobody from any newspaper didn’t came to interview and listen to my husband’s views about what happened.